


Bloodedge: Hero of Riverbrandt Volume III - A World of Three Realms

by Honeflash



Series: Bloodedge: Hero of Riverbrandt [3]
Category: BlazBlue, 神撃のバハムート | Shingeki no Bahamut | Rage of Bahamut (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, World Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeflash/pseuds/Honeflash
Summary: A total of one week has passed since the incidents at Goldenia had been cleared. With time to relax coming to an end, Ragna now has another lead to follow in terms of returning home and getting back his memories; However at the same time, he learns someone in this world is still after him. With Freesia out of the picture, just who and what lies ahead for him?
Series: Bloodedge: Hero of Riverbrandt [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000953





	Bloodedge: Hero of Riverbrandt Volume III - A World of Three Realms

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's me, ya know, the author.  
> Good news! We've reached the most recent volume! So updates will now be a lot more recent. Though chapters will be posted slower when we pass a certain point but it's alright.  
> Enjoy!

**_"Such a shame to announce... It appears that our ally Freesia wasn't suited to handle such a task. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should fault myself for trying to entrust such a task to her and her alone."_ **

Despite the amount of power that the late Freesia Von Bismarck had, there was still somebody in control of the herd during her hunt for Ragna The Bloodedge. As Freesia met her death at the hands of Alexiel, the new queen of Goldenia, Zoe, had basically made it much easier for Ragna and company to just leave Goldenia and explore around Riverbrandt. With him no longer in one place, that would make it much harder for the woman after him to track him down. However, she was prepared for this as well.

She sat on a comfortable, black and dark violet spinning chair inside of a large room in her manor. Her legs were crossed as she leaned on the back on the chair, which was pushed up against a wall. With the room being barely lit, it made it much harder to see herself as well as the other people inside. With the little amount of light there was, one could easily see that she was not alone in this manor's room. The woman looked out into the large room in front of her. Right below where she was sitting, down a few steps, were ten individuals all kneeling before her. On her left side were five of them, four of them in a vertical line while one of them was closer to her. The same could be said for those on her right. All of them were looking down at the ground.

"With such a failure, this can only mean that my dear Ragna the Bloodedge is just going to slip farther and farther out of my grasp." The woman said, tapping her chin. "That just won't do. All the work that I went through to bring him into Riverbrandt and now he's running amok without even paying me the slightest attention. It almost makes we want to cry." A smug look went across the woman's face. "However... That is where I intend to let you all come in. My favorite little demons... My elite soldiers that I have kept out of public eye." The woman held her hand out towards the ten below her. "You... are the ones that I know I can entrust this to."

"I see..."

On the right side of the woman, the first elite that spoke was the one that was closer to her. The person was a man who wore an outfit that was something that you would expect from a military commander. The main outfit was a long cloak that seemed to be light blue in color. On the bottom were small sashes that had golden ends on them. Tied to his waist was an black sheath with golden decor and a golden band to keep it tied around his waist. The midsection of the cloak was a mixture of white, gold, and black lines, the latter working well with the black pants underneath the cloak and a pair of black and light blue, armored boots. He wore a silver breastplate and shoulder plating with gold outlining over the top of the cloak. The shoulder plates had red sashes with a gold outline attached to them. He wore a black undershirt underneath his cloak and silver, metal gloves. The shoulder plating also had a purplish, torn cape attached to the back of it. The cape covered his arms as he bowed. The man was wearing a black and gold headgear and visor that covered his eyes. He had sky blue hair and had a tattoo like mark on his face, the majority of it being covered by his visor and hair. On the ground, next to his right hand was an iron polearm with a large spearhead attached to the end.

"Then this is to be the grand assignment that you mentioned to us a month ago." the first elite said, speaking in a mature manner. "Very well, Milady. You shall not be disappointed in me."

"Of course I won't be." the woman said with a smile. "After all, you've demonstrated time and time again why I rely on you as one of my second in commands. Whenever I need you, your strength has always come through for me." She folded her arms. "Although... That doesn't mean you should go in underestimating him. Ragna's proven himself to be quite capable in this world. Not to mention that little band of friends he's been gathering together aren't pushovers either. If they accompany him, then that may just cause you some trouble."

"Numbers alone will not decide their fates."

The second elite that spoke out was the one closest to the woman on the left side of her. This one was a woman who seemed to be fairly young, as if she's in her early thirties. She was wearing a very peculiar navy bluish dress that did not cover her arms and shoulders at all, and had light blue crystal like lines of decoration covering the inner area. The top of the dress was outlined in silver plating that covered a small portion of her sides. The dress had a cut opening around the stomach that revealed her navel. The light blue crystals extended below her stomach, and were also covered by a white and gold plating. The rest of the dress consisted of a beautiful, white and grey end piece that flowed down to her feet. She had a navy blue band on the upper part of her left leg and left arm. She was wearing a set of white heels as well, not too long but not too short. The girl had long, flowing, blonde hair, and purple eyes. She also had pointy ears and a pair of black horns with white lines on them on the top of her head. Her left hand that was close to the ground was close to a long, thin, silver, magical staff with a red gem being held of a fancy top piece. In her right hand, she was holding onto a black stuffed doll that a white headband, three green X's, two on its stomach and one as its left eye, and a single blue button to act as its right eye. The second elite was holding this doll up to her chest as she bowed before her master.

"Even if they are skilled in battle and there are many of them, I see no reason as to why I should be intimidated by this, my liege." the second said, speaking in a very calm manner. "I am your tactician am I not?"

"Indeed you are." The woman said, nodding.

"It is my duty to be the brain that guides us to victory in bringing you closer to your ambitions."

"And it is my duty to be the spear that cuts open a path for you to succeed." the first elite spoke.

"It is for that reason I hold you both in such high regard." The woman giggled. "In fact, it is for the same reason every one of you has been held in such a high regard by me. Because I know you'll all succeed. Therefore... Unlike with Freesia, I truly have full confidence that by yourselves, you'll be able to pull this off. No matter what gets in your way. Now arise. All of you."

The ten elites all stood up, facing the woman.

"Your mission, above all else." The woman ordered. "Is to capture Ragna The Bloodedge. That shall be the thought that remains in your head. Use whatever means you must, and execute whatever plans you must in order to bring him closer to me. All that matters in the end, is that Ragna will be in my grasp."

"Yes, Madame!" All ten elites saluted.

"That is all then." The woman clasps her hands together. "I leave everything in your capable hands. Dismissed."

The two elites at the front both turned around and began to walk towards the entrance to the large room that they were in. As they walked by, the other eight elites soon turned around and walked right after them, all of them walking away in two parallel lines. The doors to the room opened as they all exited. As the last ones finally went out, the door creaked as it slowly closed. Eventually, the door shut, making a loud noise as it did. Now, the woman was all alone in the room. Sitting there for a moment she started giggling to herself, before laughing loudly.

* * *

**Mid Day**

**Location: Hallway Outside of Audience Chamber, Mysterious Manor**

Having ended the meeting, the woman had left her ten elites up to their own devices. All of them exited the room that they were just in, a sign outside of the room reading "Audience Chamber". With that room behind them, the ten elites all found themselves walking through the hallway that leads up to the audience chamber. The hallway was better lit than the audience chamber as they walked through.

"From what I understand, this Ragna The Bloodedge had been captured once by Freesia before." The first elite spoke. "However after escaping, he merely gathered allies and soon returned to kill her instead of running away."

"That would be the mere gist of the report we've received." The second elite replied. "Freesia von Bismarck had the authority over Man's largest military might across all of Riverbrandt, along with mercenaries that thrive there. However, even with all that, she failed in the end. Why is that, I wonder? Is Ragna too powerful for the likes of the common man to deal with? If I remember correctly, he even had the succor of one of Freesia's subordinates. One of Goldenia's Prime Ministers helped him in killing her. I'm left to assume that he's also quite the charismatic individual in order to accomplish such feats."

"Alexiel was the Prime Minister's name, correct? I've heard that name before I believe."

"I've heard this name come up one or two times among previous conversations with several aggressive demonic armies. It appears she's quite prominent to those of the Demonic Realm."

"Yeah, well that ain't a good thing."

That was said by a third one of the elites. The one in question was a man that didn't look the slightest bit human at all. Anyone could tell that this was a true demon. He took the form of a giant, blue scorpion-like creature. He had one long eye that look like a visor, being light blue in color. His head was dark blue like the rest of his body, the top ends pointing up as if he had horns. There were parts of his upper body that also curved outward to make it look like he was a scorpion wearing armor that spiked up. The midsection of his body was bulky, yet slim. A glowing blue crest was on the center of its abdomen. His arms seemed very thin until you got to the claws, which were very big, rough, and spiky. On the lower section he had two thin legs out in front, and four large, meaty legs on the sides that he used to walk with mainly. Attached to the back of his lower half was a huge scorpion tail that was coiled up all the way to where the tip was right beside his head. On his upper half, he had light blue flames around his head, arms, and torso.

"She strikes everyone as the type that just goes around trying to kill demons for the heck of it!" The third elite said in an aggressive tone, smashing his right claw into a wall and accidentally creating a hole in the wall. "Asshole humans like that do nothing but make me angry!"

"Perhaps, you could consider expressing that anger in another way?"

A fourth elite sighed. The debris from the broken wall had landed on his clothing, to which he dusted himself off. The fourth elite looked to be a boy with neat, black hair, pointy eyes, and indigo colored eyes. His clothing consisted of a dark black undershirt with dark yellow lines on the ends, and black pants. Over this, he wore attire similar to that which one would seen on an army general. He wore a clean, white, long coat with a collar that covered the entire back of his neck and opened in the front. The long coat was covered with bronze metal plating, the part that covered the shoulder having yellow, thick tassels. As the bronze plating extended down the coat, and was colored brown in between the metal outline. There was a belt on the side, revealing that this armor plating was also on the back, attached by a buckling belt. On his arms, he had dark blue, metal gloves that had a silver outlining while he wore boots of the same design on his feet. On his waist was a white and gold sheath that contained a fancy, silver dueling sabre with a golden hilt. He also had a long, blue cape attached to his outfit.

"This is our liege's manor after all." The fourth elite said, speaking in a calm but slightly empty voice. "Perhaps try not to cause unnecessary damages to the place?"

"Not to mention that some of us live here as well." The second elite commented, obviously referring to herself. "I would be quite vexed if you had behaved in such a manner while you were in my room."

"Shove it out your ass!" The third elite exclaimed.

The second elite rolled her eyes.

"Regardless, we must head to the Airjammer immediately." The first elite said. "If they're on the move right now, we should make haste in order to catch up to them before we lose our most valuable lead on their whereabouts-"

"BOOORING!"

A fifth elite suddenly interrupted the first as he was talking. The elite in question was a young girl who looked like she could pass off as a child. She had red eyes and long, silver, flowing hair that had one long string sticking up. Part of her hair also covered her left eye. On her neck was a choker that had a red rose attached to it. For her outfit, she was wearing a white, sleeveless, tank top dress that had two black bows on the center. A pattern of black diamonds were on the sides of the dress, right about her exposed shoulders and arms. The bottom of the dress was a black color that overlaid the white. Though the very end of the dress was white all around. The side of the dress was slightly torn on the right side, leaving her right thigh more revealed than the left. There was also a dark blue, large bow tied to the back of her dress. She didn't wear any shoes but had blue ribbons wrapped around the lower part of her legs. The girl's joints were actually visible as well. From her arms to her fingers, legs to her feet, her joints were completely visible as if she were a mere doll.

"We've got plenty of time, don't we?" The fifth elite questioned, walking in quite the silly manner. "I don't see why we should have to tolerate the long, boring journey across the Airjammer right away. Come oooon! Let's go have some fun!"

"Not everyone has time that they can waste like you, child." The third elite commented.

"You're no fun, 'No-Face'!"

"Wha- 'No Face'?! I thought I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do if I don't?"

As if to answer her question, the third elite turned around and jabbed the fifth elite, using his large tail as it suddenly stretched out and grew long enough to stab the fifth elite through the head, down to the body. The size and strength of the attack practically broke the fifth elite's upper body into dozens of pieces, the lower half collapsing onto the ground. The third elite just laughed as he turned around and kept walking.

"...Tch."

Another one the elites scoffed at the others' actions as she stepped over the body of the fifth elite. The sixth elite in question was rather young looking as well, and was also very short, no more than four and a half feet maximum. She had long, purple hair with a blue butterfly clip at the end of it and an extra one at the top of her head. She had blue eyes with a pinkish glow inside her pupils and horns on the side of her head. Her outfit consisted of a dark brownish, black clothing that only stretched all the way down to just above the thigh. The clothing wasn't big enough to cover her large chest completely, leaving her cleavage and the top area exposed. She had several brown belts tied to her clothing as well and also had one belt tied around her right thigh. She wore a long, black boot with a golden outline and insignia on it on her left leg, and wore a shorter boot of similar design on her right. Besides all of this, she was wearing a long, white, overcoat with gold outlining that covered her under clothing completely while it was buttoned up. In her left hand she was holding a red sheath decorated with gold, that contained a long, sharpened, steel katana that had a gold and red hilt. Tied to the hilt of the sword were pink ribbons that had blue clips on them.

"What was the point of even bothering with doing that?" The sixth elite asked the third. "All you did was take the bait she set up."

"I know. But it felt good." The third answered.

"Oi, all you did was make a mess."

The next elite spoke out in response. While he was much more humanoid than that of the third, he was still very different from anything like the first or second elites. He was very reptile-like, being a lizard-humanoid creature. His body was mainly dark yellow with a light purple jaw and clean, white fangs and also he had purple eyes with black pupils. He had long scales on the back of his head extending to his back. He had quite the large and muscular body type. For armor, he wore an iron breastplate being held by dark blue straps tied around him. He had iron plating covering his shoulders as well and a stone-like arm guard around his left arm. His legs were shaped like other animals, and had three spiked toes on them. There were yellow armor plates on his knees too. His tail was dark yellow as well and had the same scaly pattern that he had on his head. He carried a steel sword that had a black inner area with a red line inside it. He also carried a bulky, dark yellowish shield with spikes on the bottom.

"That ain't anything to be proud of." The seventh elite said. "What if the boss gets pissed about it? She's gotta walk down these halls too, ya know."

"Would you like to go back and clean her up?" The first asked.

"I'd... rather not."

"Honestly, you're all too mean to the poor doll."

An eighth one spoke out. The eighth elite that said something was a woman who seemed to be quite mature in age. She had pale white skin and short, gray hair that still made its way down to her face. She also had pointy ears and yellow eyes. Floating above her head was a blue halo like object. Her clothing was very revealing, her entire middle section being left open except for the parts of the breasts closest to her arms. She wore pitch black shoulder plating where on the right side, it extended all of the way up to her neck. Where the armor covered part of her breasts is where it was painted dark red, with a black design on top of it. The armor did not cover her midsection, but covered her side areas instead. Extending down to below the navel is where her outfit fills out. Close to her body was red armor plating. Extending all the way down to her legs was a tight, black dress that also had scaly armor on it, including two belts made out of sharp scales tied around her hips. Her left arm was empty, while her right arm consisted of a spiked, black arm guard that extended to the beginning of her hand, but not to her fingers.

"Only you would say that." The sixth elite muttered, referring to the eighth.

The second of the elites just sighed, shaking her head. "It baffles me to this day that you people are some of the best that the Demon Realm offers."

"You make it sound like you're not part of this band of misfits."

The ninth elite responded to that remark. The ninth was quite a straightforward demonic creature. He had the form of a large, metal gargoyle. He had a teal color to him. His head pointed upward at the top as he had small horns on the sides of his head. His right fang tooth seemed to be broken. His figure was built like an average gargoyle, aside from being completely metal. His metal wings were slightly extended outward on his large back, and he also had noticeably large hands with sharp pointed fingers. His legs were shaped like that of a calves and he also had cloven feet. The most noticeable feature about the ninth elite was that he was completely covered in rust and had broken pieces all around his body.

"We all have a job to do." The ninth elite said. "Who cares if we get along or not?"

"He's right." The first elite said in agreement. "All that matters now is preparing to begin this oper-"

The elites all turned their attention as the moment they walked past an intersection in the hallway, the tenth elite turned the corner and walked away from them. The tenth elite had the body of a human and the head of a raven, even red, beady eyes. He had the body type of a muscular, dark-skinned male. He was wearing pitch black armor plating that covered his entire top section and extended to his thighs. He had metal spikes on his shoulders on both sides and black, polished arm guards as well. A red, torn cape was on the back of the armor plating as well, his large wings being directly under the cape, slightly coiled up. He wore black pants completely with polished, black armor plating across his legs. His feet were actually those of a human's instead of a raven's. On his back, he carried a black, eerie, trident spear that had steel spearheads on both sides. The front of it being wider and more bulky, while the back was a more simple halberd head design.

"Hey, where's he going?" The seventh elite asked.

"Let him be." The second sighed. "We'll have to mobilize another day." As she talked, the elites found themselves walking into what appears to be a large dining room. "For the time being, we should go over the information that we have and try to prepare even more for our eventual battle. We don't know when they'll move out, so we can't afford to waste time."

"Well yeah, if you want to do things the hard way then be my guest."

The second elite looked up to see the fifth elite sitting on one of the dining tables in front of her. Despite being destroyed by the third elite earlier, the fifth seemed to be in complete perfect condition. Her body was completely repaired, not a scratch on her.

"Look at her, she's reappeared without a hint of damage." The ninth elite said in envy, the metal gargoyle examining his own injured and scarred body. "Such an impressive power."

"If you want, you know..." The fifth started to say. "I could always take care of everything myself. Or did you forget what I am capable of?"

"I have not." the second answered. "I just don't trust you."

"That's fair enough. Well then." The fifth elite hopped up and walked to a nearby wall. "You can go off and review your little notes by yourself. Meanwhile...

The fifth elites let a mischievous smirk go across her face as she placed her right hand on the wall, one finger at a time.

I think I'm gonna just take a little peak over at the kingdom of Goldenia..."

* * *

**Location: Mercenary's Guild, 7th Floor, Goldenia**

Meanwhile at Goldenia, about a week has passed since Freesia's death and Zoe's announcement as the new Queen of Goldenia. With everything that has happened in such a short time, the daily lives of everybody in Goldenia was beginning to return to normal. The Imperial Army's main focus was currently repairing everything that had been damaged during Freesia's last ditch effort to capture Ragna. The damages to the castle had also been a hindrance to all of Zoe's plans that she wanted to put in place after her proclamation, much to the queen's dismay.

With the rest of the group, they found themselves relaxing for the first time in a while in Goldenia. Thanks to Zoe pardoning Ragna, Monika, and Feena of their crimes, the three were no longer in worry about the imperial army trying to arrest them. Grena had already paid the price for her previous bounties before she met with Feena and the others, which also left her in the clear as well. Due to not being in any real trouble before this, Albert, Mina, and Mona were also left without worry and could remain free. Rita and Goblin Mage, both of them being young and innocent, had no real aid in everything. As such, they were also freed. After everything calmed down, Ragna and the ground usually spent their time at the Mercenary's Guild, being the safest place for them at the time being. There were imperial soldiers inside the tavern, but there wasn't anything for them to worry about.

"Come on, I know you can go lower than that!"

With Feena, the woman had lost her crossbow during the fight with Freesia. Unable to repair it, she had been weaponless for a while now. On this day, a weapons dealer had showed up at the guild's tavern. The archer mercenary was hoping that she would be able to find a new crossbow for herself. Unfortunately, the crossbow in question was being put at too high a price.

"Listen, don't you think you ought to tone that down just a little bit?" Feena questioned. "There's no way you're being honest with how much that crossbow's worth!"

"My prices are final." The weapons dealer responded, stroking his short beard. "The price is twenty bronze coins! Either pay up or pick something else! I don't have all day to be wasting time on you haggling me for five thousand copper."

"Ugh! Alright fine!" Feena groans. "What else you got in terms of ranged weaponry?"

"Well, seeing as how little coinage you have on you..." The weapons dealer pulls out an old iron bow, the string on it looking like it'll snap any moment now. "How about this nice bow?" He had a smirk on his face as he nudged the bow to Feena. "Only two thousand five hundred copper coins. What do you say?"

"Two thousand five hundred?!" Feena banged her hand on the table. "For a piece of crap like this?! You oughta be selling it for just five copper coins, if not giving it away for free!"

"Excuse me, but who's the merchant here? I think I should know how much something is worth? So are you buying it or not?"

Feena groaned. She was willing to go on ahead and buy it, considering she really didn't have that much money on her. Before she said anything however, her eyes drifted over into one of the weapons dealer's boxes, at a specific black revolver that was visible.

"Ooh~ hang on a second..." She said, and points at the revolver. "How about that one?"

The weapons dealer turned and looked at where Feena was pointing at. While she didn't see it, he had a serious look for a moment before smirking. He then puller out the revolver and placed it on the table.

"This thing?" He asked. "You didn't strike me for a gun user."

"I don't use it often, but I can manage with one." Feena responded. "So how much do you want for this revolver, huh?"

"You've got a good eye. Coincidentally, this revolver's actually worth five thousand copper coins. If I recall, that's the amount you've got on you right now isn't it?"

"What a coincidence. It is."

"So, I take it you want this one instead of the bow, eh?"

"Mind if I examine it first? I wanna get a good look at it so I can make sure that I really want it before I buy."

"I don't mind at all."

The weapons dealer handed the revolver over to Feena, still having a grin on his face as he stroked his beard. Feena examined the revolver up and down and on each side of it. Unknown to the dealer, she was slowly scratching the side of the frame of the revolver for some reason. She let out a small smirk before putting the revolver down, her hand still on the weapon.

"I gotta admit, this thing's a real beaut." She said. "Well built, nice metals. It's certainly something I would want to get."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" The weapons dealer exclaimed.

"There's... just one teensy-tiny little issue."

That alerted the weapons dealer, as he set back in his chair. "There-There is?" He asked, raising a brow in concern. "What is it?"

"It's nothing major, I promise. I just wanted to ask you something..."

Feena moved her hand off the frame of the revolver, the weapons dealer's eyes widening as she did so. On the part of the black frame where she scratched off was a large, white circle that had a design of three black blades painted inside of the circle. The weapons dealer was sweating nervously at this, while Feena just had a confident smirk.

"Ain't this the symbol of the Kobayakawa Family?" Feena asked smugly and quietly. "You know, the weapon makers? The ones where reselling their guns is considered a crime?" Feena held the gun up by its barrel and dangled it in between herself and the weapons dealer. "I'm sure you know all of this considering it was in your possession."

"H-How did you know?!" The weapons dealer whispered.

"I ain't a fool. I know my weapons. And that lousy attempt you made in trying to paint over that symbol didn't help you at all. Now then, I wonder what could happen to you if I were to let people know that you were selling these illegally? Eh?"

"Are you trying to get me arrested!?"

"Well there's a couple of imperial soldiers in here at that bar behind me. Let's see what happens when I tell them about this."

Feena was about to get up and turn around.

"Wait! Wait!" The weapons dealer said worriedly. "Alright what do you want? A discount? Information?"

"That crossbow I pointed out earlier." Feena set the revolver down and placed a bag full of copper coins on the table. "Sell it to me for five thousand copper coins else I'll rat you out."

The weapons dealer obviously wasn't happy about this, but he knew that he couldn't fight Feena with what she knows. He sighs and hands over the crossbow to the mercenary, who smiled and slid him the bag of coins.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" She said with a wink, shouldering her new crossbow.

"Y-Yeah, whatever..." He sighed in relief.

In another part of the tavern, Ragna and Albert were just seated down, asked to keep an eye on Goblin Mage and Rita by Feena and Grena. While they were seated, other patrons in the tavern and the mercenaries wanted to inquire about what happened up on the eighteenth floor. However, their mouths were shut. Sometime after everything was over, Zoe and the Prime Ministers asked them not to discuss the events that took place in Castle Vallera with the citizens, as not to spread unnecessary rumors or to cause any trouble. As such, everyone has been keeping their mouths shut around others. Eventually, the people around them stopped asking them for information, but that didn't stop them from listening in whenever they talk among each other.

"They still there?" Albert asked.

"Yeah... still there." Ragna sighed.

The "they" in question that Ragna and Albert were talking about was the fact that at a table near them were another group of mercenaries. They were trying to secretly listen in on the two talking to see if they could learn anything about what happened, much to Ragna and Albert's annoyance.

"When are these people gonna give it a break?" Ragna asked, groaning.

"Shouldn't we just move elsewhere?" Albert questioned.

"No, because then they'll probably just follow us, even if we were to leave the damn tavern. Besides, it doesn't seem like the kids are gonna want to get up anytime soon."

"I heard that!" Rita suddenly spoke up. The demonic mage petting Tau as her companion was in her lap. "How many times am I gonna have to tell you?! I'm not a kid!"

"Yeah, yeah. You say that everytime someone calls you one."

Rita just huffed, and went back to petting Tau. Meanwhile Goblin Mage was being herself, not paying them any mind as Albert had given the girl a bunch of shiny coins to keep her distracted, due to how much the goblin girl loves shiny objects.

"Anyways, why are you hanging around here for?" Ragna asked Albert. "Don't you live somewhere on the first floor or lower down?"

"While I do, I'm also worried about Rita." Albert replied, gesturing to the demonic mage that looked up again at the mention of her name. "I've gotten Mina and Mona to handle things on the lower floors for me while I'm watching her."

"What are you worried about the kid for?"

"I'm not a kid, dammit!"

"While she's perfectly capable of handling herself if someone were to mess with her, I would rather not leave her alone." Albert whispered to Ragna. "Seeing as how little experience she has with humans, she'd get into trouble here on her own. I mean, you see how she is now."

"Well, I guess you're right. So what? You're like her father now?"

"Hang on, I never said any of that!"

"You might as well have. Considering you and Grena found her, you two might as well start being her mother and father and teach her about the human world then-"

**_THUNK_ **

Ragna winced and held a hand on his forehead as a metal cup. Looking up, he saw Grena sitting at the bar counter, turning back around as he looked over at her.

"What the hell, asshole?!" Ragna shouted at Grena.

"What are you yelling at me for?" Grena asked, shrugging even though she obviously was the one who threw that. "I didn't do-"

"That's bullshit, and you all know it!"

Everyone's attention was suddenly taken up at the sounds of yelling, not from Ragna. Next to the same bar counter that Grena was seated at was a group of four imperial soldiers, three male and one female. The one that was in front talking was holding up a wanted poster that had the face of the transformed state of Reina. It was no coincidence that among the mercenaries at the counter they were confronting, Reina was among them, still working there as one of the maids. While everyone's crimes that had been placed on them during the time of Freesia's rule had been pardoned by Zoe, that didn't save anybody from any past bounties on them. Unfortunately for Reina, she had a bounty on her before everything else happened.

"If you're gonna come in here and start accusing the staff of a crime, then shouldn't you guys get some proper evidence first?" A blonde, spiked hair mercenary stated to the soldiers.

"A lot of things happened about a week ago, and we're positive that this maid here was involved." One of the male soldiers said.

"Anything that happened then might have been pardoned, but if her identity is truly that of the assassin in this poster then she comes with us." the second male soldier said."

"You can't even prove that she's the person in that poster!" The blonde mercenary exclaimed. "Look at them." He pushed Reina forward towards the poster, her face right beside it. "They look absolutely nothing alike, if you want my opinion."

"We're in the process of tracking down someone who was also on the scene when the woman in the poster was found." the female soldier said. "If we find this person, then they'll help confirm our case."

"What's more is, this person is rumored to be connected to the phantom thief that some people used to think were just a rumor." The third male soldier continued. "At least, until recently that is."

He then pulled out another rolled up wanted poster. Unrolling it, it was revealed that it was a newly printed wanted poster for Chat Noir. However this time, the wanted poster came with a facial portrait. Though it wasn't a photo. It was just a very crude drawing based on witness reports and the soldier reports of those who were on the eighth floor. As the third soldier handed the wanted poster to the blonde mercenary, Reina turned her head, trying to resist the urge to laugh.

"Please place this somewhere the public eye will be able to see." The third soldier said, referring to the new wanted poster. "This is a tavern, so there's the chance that anyone with-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the whole spiel." The blonde mercenary said, as he then gestured to the wall of wanted posters to the side of him. "I got a whole wall of these things for a reason you know."

"Um... Excuse me..." Reina asked in a very meekly tone. "Is that all? I have customers that I need to serve and-"

"You're not getting out of this that easily!" The first soldier exclaimed.

"I'm serious, I have no idea what you want from-"

Reina yelped slightly as the soldier grabbed her by the collar of her clothes and pulled her forwards.

"Whoa! Hey!" The blonde mercenary exclaimed.

"I was out there on the eighth floor myself that day!" The first soldier said. "I fought against you myself while you had your appearance change. And right before we were assaulted, I saw your appearance change back into the way you are now. Come on and come clean! It's only a matter of time before we'll have to come in here and arrest you by force!"

"Pl-Please let go..." Reina responded, her voice trembling with fear. "Y-You're hurting me..."

Suddenly someone placed a hand on the shoulder of the first soldier. "Yo."

"What?!"

**_POW!_ **

Just as he turned around, he was met with a solid right hook slamming dead into his face, courtesy of Grena. The punch was strong enough that it knocked the soldier's helmet clean off and knocked him into the wall behind him, where he slid down the wall onto the ground. The other soldiers quickly ran over and helped the man up.

"Sir! Are you alright?" The female soldier asked.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The first soldier shouted to Grena.

The chain wielding mercenary in question just walked over to where the soldiers were gathered at, cracking her knuckles. Soon, several other mercenaries walked over to where Grena was, all of them looking quite pissed.

"So is this how the imperial army gets its kicks?" Grena asked. "Harassing bartenders and whatnot without a shitload of evidence for anything you claim that she's done? Yeah, I don't think so. Now how about you pick yourself up, take your underlings, and get the hell out of this bar, will ya? Or else I'm really about to give you a reason to arrest someone."

"You think you can just get away with talking to me like that?!" The first soldier responded, shouting. "You just assaulted an imperial officer!"

"I've got more than two dozen people here as my witnesses. I was just stopping someone from assaulting a working bartender while at her job. Now scram!"

The soldier wanted to say something, but he knew that Grena had the advantage here.

"I said SCRAM!"

"Tch! You'll pay for this, you know that."

The soldiers all started walking out of the tavern, slamming the door shut behind them. As they were all gone, the mercenaries standing behind Grena all started walking off and going back to whatever they were doing before that outburst.

"Nice hook." The blonde mercenary complimented.

"If you wanna compliment me, get me another drink." Grena groaned, walking back to her seat.

"I swear, they're getting more persistent by the day." Reina scoffed, dropping her nice and shy act. "Assholes. Can't they just leave me alone?"

"Unfortunately not. You've got your own record to deal with, and you probably won't get out of jail as quick as I have over the countless times I've been arrested."

The blonde mercenary slid another drink over to Grena, who immediately picked it up and started downing the whole thing in one gulp.

"They'll be back with proof one day, I just have that feeling." Reina sighed, leaning against the bar counter. "I gotta get out of this damn kingdom sooner or later before they get any actual leads."

"The only thing they can really get is Predator." The blonde mercenary said. "But no one, not even the guild's been able to track her down since she vanished about a week ago. We've been able to squash and suppress SOME evidence on you, but if they find her before we do then it's all over."

"It's just one big gamble for me as long as I'm here."

"You got any plans on leaving?" Grena asked.

"None at all. I was hoping Chat and I could come up with something, but ever since that incident one week ago, he's been silent. Nobody has seen him around either."

"Not like he can show his face around in public as much now that they have that wanted poster of him."

Reina put her hands over mouth, muffling her laughter as Grena mentioned that wanted poster of Chat Noir again.

"That wanted poster looks ridiculous!" She laughed. "It looks like they set a bottle of paint in front of a five year old and tried to give him instructions on what to paint!"

Grena snickered. "Yeah it does look kinda bad."

"By the way," Reina calmed down as she started to ask Grena something. "I've been looking around the tavern and, where's Monika? I haven't seen her since two days ago when you forced her to drink again."

"Ah crap, I did that again!?" Grena placed a hand on her head.

"Indeed."

"I'd better apologize to her next time I see her. I had no idea I got that drunk again!"

"You haven't seen her either?"

"I heard from Ragna that she was up on another floor, but that's it. He said she might come down later on, but she had something she wanted to take care of today."

* * *

**Location: Airship Dock, 10th Floor, Goldenia**

Meanwhile with the blonde girl in question, she was actually up on the tenth floor's airship dock. Granted the place had been wrecked during their little scuffle with Chat Noir when they first met, it had been repaired quite quickly. While everything was fully repaired, most of the docks had been fixed and construction on several new airships had begun to replace old ones. At least two new ones were about halfway finished in construction. But that wasn't the reason why Monika was here. The blonde, short girl had come up to the tenth floor and was currently face to face with Juri.

The imperial soldier wasn't wearing the bulky armor that most others wear right now. He was currently still in uniform, but was wearing a white hooded outfit with bronze, "X"s going down the middle of it, and grey stripes on the sides. He had a bronze shoulder pad on his right arm. He also wore more stylish armored boots, having a white trim with gold ends at the top, and were dark brown and black to the bottom. His standard imperial sword was in its sheath.

The reason for his outfit change and Monika's visit were both one in the same. Zoe was still preparing to put her new policies in place despite the main focus in repairing the castle. As such, she already planned to have Goldenia's imperial army visit other kingdoms in order to once again improve the relations between the kingdoms. Juri was the one Zoe selected to lead one of these visits, as advised by her Prime Ministers. Monika had heard about this and decided that she wanted to first see him off. Luckily she managed to catch up to him, as the soldiers still preparing their airship were not finished.

"I've gotta admit. You've certainly risen up in the imperial army haven't you?" Monika said.

"Heh. You could say that." Juri replied. "Honestly, I was surprised to see I was being put in such an important position myself."

"Vira and Aglovale hold you in high regards it seems. Especially Vira. You have impressed her with how you were really on top of chasing us."

"There's... no hard feelings about all of that is there?"

"Of course not." Monika leaned in and whispered to the boy. "If you hadn't let me go back there, I certainly wouldn't be here right now. I owe you one for that, Juri."

"Don't worry about it. I just couldn't stand to go along with that plan, so I couldn't try to arrest you."

"Sir! The airship is ready." One of the soldiers called out.

"Looks like I'd better get going. Jick, Harper, and I are in charge of this small group, so I'd better not waste time and set a good example."

"Oh! One more thing." Monika said before Juri could run off.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure but... by any chance is your destination the kingdom of Chestile?"

"Yes, it is. Why?"

Monika pulled a small envelope out of her pocket and held it towards Juri.

"Could you do me a favor and take this with you?" She asked. "There's someone in Chestile that I wrote a letter to and I would like to know if you could give it to them for me."

"I'm not sure how much help I'd be. I can't exactly go around town looking for this person. Do you know where they'd be?"

"They'll be at the airship docks in that kingdom, don't worry. Look for an airship with a flag that has an hourglass on it. And ask for either someone named ' _ Lyrial _ ' or ' _ Aguil _ '. That's all you have to do."

"Oh. I see. Alright, that seems simple enough." Juri turns around and starts walking away.

"Thanks again!"

"Don't mention it."

As he boarded the airship, Monika stood there and watched it depart for a while. The airship detached from the docks as it then began moving forward. As it sailed off into the skies beyond the horizon, Monika turned around and started walking away from the airship docks.

"It's a two day journey to get to Chestile from Goldenia..." She thought aloud. "So then, that'll make it at least a four day round trip before those two get here. I'm sure we can manage to hold off here for four more days."

* * *

_ "Ooh~! How interesting! Looks like I have some wonderful news for all of you~!" _

_ "Drop the exaggerations, doll. What is the status of our enemies?" _

**Location: Dining Room, Mysterious Manor**

During that time, the hand of the fifth elite had been on the wall of the dining room inside of their manor, the other elites excluding the tenth standing around and waiting to hear from her. Despite not moving a muscle, somehow the fifth elite had become completely aware of everything that the group in Goldenia were up to at that time. Be it at the tavern or at the airship docks, the fifth elite was now aware of it all. Smirking with an evil look in her eye, she removed her hand from the wall, putting both hands on her hips as she stood up straight.

"We've got about four whole days to slack off and do absolutely nothing!" She exclaimed. "They aren't moving an inch out of Goldenia." She pointed a finger towards the second elite. "So take all the time you need to do whatever it is you do." The fifth elite put her hands behind her head and started walking off. "I'm gonna go out and have some fun."

"Hmph." The second elite just scoffed. "Fine then. We'll reconvene at the Airjammer once the allotted time has passed."

The remaining elites all parted their separate ways, each one of them had gone out to do their own thing for the time being. Within four days they planned to come back together in order to begin their mission.

"Ragna the Bloodedge…" The second talked to herself as she walked off. "You're the person of my mistress' interest. And yet you appear to be someone quite resilient and resourceful enough to take an entire kingdom that was against you, and use it in your favor. Not to mention you've gathered allies with such impressive skill. However, all this means is that I shall be forced to put in place my best strategies in order to ensure your defeat and the elimination of this team you've assembled. Soon... you will learn..." She held her stuffed doll up to her chest as she kept walking. "That the tactician known as  **Dirge Nott** is unrivaled. And you will fall before me."

_ "Oh? Looks like things are about to start getting VERY interesting." _

Close by the dining room that they all had just left was a man in a jet black long coat, wearing a matching hat, otherwise known as Hazama, standing in a corner having heard everything that took place.

"Well then..." He said, chuckling. "I'm going to enjoy seeing how this plays out."

With that, Hazama also walked off.


End file.
